1967 Chrysler Town & Country Defies Throw-Away Status With All-Original Everything

The nameplate harkens back to 1941 when it was first used on a woodie wagon based on the Saratoga and New Yorker. Discontinued in 1942 when the US entered World War II, the Town & Country returned in 1946. This time around, however, it was applied to a lineup of automobiles that did not include a station wagon.

The badge was reassigned to a grocery getter in 1951, but Chrysler offered other body styles between 1964 and 1968 and 1983 and 1986. In 1978, the Town & Country became a midsize automobile. Finally, Chrysler turned it into a premium version of the Dodge Caravan minivan for the 1990 model year.

The cool thing about this hauler is that it spawned quite a few sexy-looking rigs. I'm a big fan of the mid-1950s to mid-1960s models because they look like Chrysler 300 letter series cars with four doors and a massive trunk. And if you're into no-nonsense wagons with boxy designs and immense luggage room, you'll definitely like the late-1960s and early-1970s versions. The 1967 grocery-getter you see here is one of those cars.

But it's more than just an imposing long-roofed hauler with a trunk big enough to rival the cargo capacity of a pickup truck. This fifth-generation Town & Country is also an all-original survivor. And that's a rare feat for a vehicle like this.

Station wagons were the throw-away vehicles of the era. Usually bought by people with large families or as workhorses, full-size wagons were discarded in junkyards or parked in backyards after a few years of heavy use. And most of them were scrapped or left to become rust buckets.

Sure, a few of them have soldiered on into the 21st century still in one piece, but you just don't see them on the road anymore. While this wagon had a repaint at some point, it's nearly 100% original otherwise, and that's a very rare treat.

Chrysler sold 14,703 Town & Country wagons in 1967. The lineup included six- and nine-passenger versions. This one appears to be a nine-passenger rig (even though that third-row bench isn't wide enough for three adults), so it's one of 7,520 examples built like this. How many of them are still around? It's a question I cannot answer, but it's been a while since I've seen another one running and driving.

So, how did this station wagon survive in such excellent condition? Well, the owner says the hauler was driven until 1974, when it broke down and was put into storage. It spent a whopping 25 years off the road, but it was lucky enough to get a dry floor and a solid roof over its head.

The grocery-getter came out of storage after an estate sale in 1999 and ended up with the current owner in 2003. Larry gave the wagon a thorough refresh, got the four-barrel 383-cubic-inch (6.3-liter) V8 running again, and now enjoys a rare wagon with 66,000 original miles (106,217 km) on the odo.

The 325-horsepower engine runs surprisingly smoothly, and the Spice Gold Metallic color makes the wagon stand out next to any other Mopar from the era. And yes, I'd ogle at it even if it was parked next to a HEMI-powered muscle car. Check it out in the video below.